Robots (Of Machines and Men)
General Information There are seven types of robots with in the OMAM universe who are designated to perform their own specific functions. There are two sub-sections of these types, standardized and customizable. Most of these robots are put into mechanical bodies, but some can be useful in a hologram form as well. It is highly recommended that robots stay out of areas or situations producing high EMP levels. A damaging electromagnetic pulse has the chance of "killing" a robot, whether it be physically destroying their body and AI, erasing their programming entirely, or making them too damaged to function any longer. Moderate pulses tend to make robots malfunction, examples include collapsing, twitches, or a loss of their senses (such as hearing or sight). For sentient robots, an EMP is described as a painful sensation like an equivalent to a human migraine or possibly a seizure. Classifications First Generation The first generation, also known as the servitude generation, are the older robots that are (or were) non-sentient, and may have gained sentience during the Prometheus event. These robots tend to have more… problems than the second generation, mostly with their software. A first gen robot may still have bits and pieces of their old coding which wasn't entirely deleted. They may exhibit tendencies that resemble their old jobs, such as an ex-caretaker robot who may still have the urge to check humans for injury or treat someone for illness even if it isn't totally necessary. A more common occurence is the laws of robotics still being left over. A first gen is much more inclined to take initiative in a crisis, prioritizing human lives over their own, and have also shown difficulties in saying "no" and are extremely bent on self-preservation. First gen robots are also much more prone to data corruption. With a slightly older system, and an imperfect transfer of the code, it leaves much more cracks and less protection. A glitch can occur much more easily, data can be transferred incorrectly, errors abound. Corruption can become so bad that it may be irreversible and give the robot a premature death. Or, even worse, it can cause a robot to lose control of their actions, and go on a rampage, attacking whatever they might see. Second Generation Also known as the Prometheus generation, second gen robots are robots that were created with sentience from the very start. They are all made during or after the Prometheus event, and are seen as pioneers for future robot culture. Unlike their predecessors, almost all second gens are custom robots. Many desire to deviate from the traditional humanoid form, and rebuild their bodies from spare/donated parts to appear as something unique. Some may choose to have four arms, others may want multiple legs (akin to centaurs or jorogumo), and some may not even try to appear remotely human like their predecessors, often looking more like they jumped out of science fiction. With this emphasis on deviating from humans, they have helped robot culture develop on the idea of individuality. Many second gens are brought up enjoying competition and setting themselves apart from the crowd. Although despite this they still have a sense of unity among each other, and most are willing to look out for one another in a crisis as they feel humans wouldn't care about them. Titan model Titans are used particularly for construction. They had replaced many manual construction equipment several decades prior and are preferred due to their very careful AI. Thanks to this, they help keep a safe environment for construction workers, and despite the tall and heavy body they have quick reactions and take measures to prevent human workers from death or injury on the job. Titans are covered in a heavy steel skin that protects them from possible damage that may come from a collapsing building or a malfunctioning piece of equipment. Their size also assists in helping them reach greater heights for building, but they still don't see much use in the creation of skyscrapers. Golem model Golems are essentially the police robots of OMAM's world. Originally built from recycled parts of Combat models decades past, they have evolved into possibly the ideal protectors of the human general public. While reserved mostly for violent criminal situations, Golems are programmed to de-escalate violence, and are almost incapable of killing humans due to the first law of robotics. There have been incidents in which a human has died where a Golem was involved, but the deaths are always caused by an external source or by the human themself, never the robot. Unlike human officers, they are not authorized to bear arms under any circumstances, but are always equipped with tasers stored in their forearms. These robots are also well-armored and strongly built. A bullet or two is not even close to enough to stop a single Golem. That being said, ever since their introduction in the 1960's, the rates of death or injury for police officers have steadily decreased, as they are becoming less involved in violent activity, and when they are, Golems often shield their fellow human officers. Golems are also more willing to allow harm to come to themselves as they can be repaired later. Golems also come with a retractable face mask. Golems only show their face when they do not detect any immediate danger within their vicinity. While not totally a human face, having a human-ish face tends to make people a little more comfortable around them, especially for people who have just been a victim of a crime. Though victims are usually handled by regular officers, detectives, etc. Caretaker model Caretakers are easily the most versatile robot models. Unlike the standardized Titan and Golem models, Caretakers can be customized to fit the needs of the patient they are being sent to. If a patient is more comfortable with females, then they can be designed to resemble a woman, and vice versa if the patient prefers males. There are even genderless child-like models made for patients who aren't comfortable with adults or perhaps fear adults. Caretakers only fill out certain roles in the medical field, that being a personal doctor, nurse, or a tool for psychological treatment. They are not programmed to be surgeons or to work complicated hospital machinery. However, they can perform emergency medical procedures and can provide for a patient who is too ill, injured, or old to take care of themselves. They are also used often for mental health. As robots, Caretakers are non-judgmental and neutral towards all humans. While they can replicate the acts and behaviors of a human to make their patient more comfortable, they are unable to feel anything for their patients and are constantly looking for improvements or declines. But they are still used to be there for a patient to talk to, and child-like Caretakers are especially useful for helping children that are recovering from abuse or other traumatic events by giving them comfort in someone who isn't an adult. Combat model Combat models are a highly controversial subject in politics even in the current year, despite almost all combat models being decommissioned in the 1950's. With fears of terrorism, several followers of the right wing demand for the use of combat models once again to annihilate terrorism much more efficiently than human soldiers and bombers could. Meanwhile those on the left wing argue that it will be too powerful and make wars into massacres if another country has no combat models of its own to defend itself. While there still has yet to be a decision made on that, most Combat models have been destroyed, stored in warehouses, or preserved in museums with their AI chips removed, either erased or destroyed as well. However, there are still a few in existence who still retain their original AI chips, and retain memory files of the battlefield. Many historians and collectors auction for these AI chips at extremely high prices, as footage of World War 2 battles from a first person perspective is unthinkably valuable. Now as for what the robots were themselves in their better days, they were fully functioning steel automatons designed specifically for killing humans in mass numbers, presumably enemy soldiers (although this did not prevent many casualties to their allies). Some were remotely controlled by an officer authorized to use them, or they had their own artificial intelligence that would seek out enemies on its own. But currently they are absolutely illegal to be used ever since the Asimov Act of 1999. Doll model Another highly controversial type of robot is the Doll model. Doll models are used almost entirely for the purpose of giving sexual pleasure to their owner. Feminine models tend to be the most popular, but there are plenty masculine models as well. They are highly customizable to whatever the client prefers, everything from their hair color, style, skin color, eyes, and even body type can be changed. They are the only robots with synthetic reproductive organs (that of course, are actually unable to reproduce). But because of their extremely human appearance it's required for all dolls to have bar codes printed on the back of their necks to mark them as machines. Now the controversy with Dolls is very abundant. Many on the conservative right see these models as highly inappropriate, promoting sexual deviancy, and encouraging more sexual violence. Meanwhile, those on the liberal left argue the opposite, saying that Dolls are a better 'reliever' for people's sexual desires to prevent sexual violence, but sometimes others state that it's degrading towards women and sends wrong messages. Aside from political controversy, there's a large stigma against owning a Doll, as most owners are assumed to be lonely perverts. This is why most Dolls are kept secret, and why some used ones can become so damaged and filthy; the owner is too afraid of judgement to find someone to repair or clean it. There have also been numerous accounts of custom robot programmers and creators of illegally making child-like Dolls. It is illegal to create or possess a child Doll as it is considered the same as producing and possessing child pornography. There is a small percentage of Dolls that are are non-sexualized, but still possess the extremely realistic human appearance. These are nicknamed "clean" Dolls, and much like toys are collected and put on display, or constantly remodeled, redesigned, and redressed to give off a certain look or resemble a different person. They are generally seen as a symbol of wealth. Prototype model Prototype models, also known as testing-bots, are made for testing new AI in development. They are produced by various private companies, and are either sold to other companies or independent custom programmers. The appearance of the model updates every decade or so, although they still retain the same functionality. Prototypes are the only types of robots able to change their eye color depending on what AI chip is inserted in them. Red for a Titan AI, yellow for a Golem AI, blue for a Caretaker AI, and pink for a Doll AI. Of course, being used solely for experiments, Prototypes do not have their own artificial intelligence and is constantly having chips being swapped for others. They are also child-sized for them to be easier to physically control, and are heavy and sturdy so that they have better durability. Other than that, most prototype models are merely left deactivated until required for use. Custom model Picture coming later Robot History Robots were said to have begun in the earlier centuries of human civilization. The only record of automatons from this age were Golems, a mythical creation from Hebrew mythology. Golems were clay statues said to have been brought to life by a rabbi in order to protect a Jewish ghetto from being killed by order of a Roman emperor. This is where the name for the police robots, "Golems", originate from, as they are protectors of the people. The very first true recording of robots was a clockwork monk named the Clockwork Prayer, given to a Spanish king in the 1500's. For several centuries onward, there were still very few efforts to make clockwork automatons, and most of the time they were merely gifts to nobles and royalty that had no intelligence whatsoever, and only performed actions that their bodies allowed them to do. However, the industrial revolution saw new use for these automatons. Inventors tinkered with the original clockwork versions, and now they began to make steam powered creations. However, they still had no AI and only knew how to perform menial tasks, and would not stop until they were forcefully turned off. Because of this, steam robots were considered more of a novelty than anything, and various companies refused to produce robots or allow them to work in their factories, thus steam powered robots were more used for entertainment. Most would be built to perform set shows (much akin to animatronics at theme parks in the real world). However, the 1940's finally saw what is now referred to as the digital revolution. The very first computer was made, and ambitious creators tried to implement this artificial intelligence into their robots. However, with World War 2 draining the economies of many countries, inventors could only get funding from the government if they agreed they could make these robots with their AI be used in war. The inventors agreed, and created the world's first known robot model, the Combat model. These robots were humanoid, ambiguously gendered, and equipped with guns on their arms that could be interchangeable with various other types. Combat robots decimated the battlefield and paved the way for the victory of the alliance along with the American invention of the atomic bomb. But after the war, many countries banned the use of Combat robots, as many deemed them to be nearly as destructive as an atomic bomb itself. So, as the economy recovered, inventors and programmers of the 1960's began to work on various non-war related robots, many of which led to the Caretakers, Golems, Titans, and Dolls that we see today. This era of new robots also inspired authors and popularized the science fiction genre, which in turn would inspire programmers to work further and advance these machines and other technologies. During the 1980's and 1990's, there were a handful of isolated incidents of some robots attacking humans, disobeying their masters, or purposely damaging themselves. This, coupled along with the Y2K scare of 1999, caused the paranoid public to protest and urge for laws on robot safety. Eventually, the government had to give in and pass the three laws of robotics, originally created by 1960's science fiction author, Isaac Asimov. The laws in order, state that 1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2) A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second laws. This was referred to as the Asimov Act, and was passed in the US, and other countries have followed this example. Now, it is required for all programmers to program their robots with the three laws of robotics, or else they risk having their robot destroyed or deactivated, and they could spend up to 5 years in jail, possible more if their robot ever broke any of the laws. The 2000's led to the rise of Custom robots, and subsequently, Prototype robots. With technology being introduced to people younger and younger, many young adults and teenagers began taking up programming as a hobby and creating their own robots. However, not everyone had enough money to build their own mechanical body, so companies began producing prototype models at a cheap price that were used to test new artificial intelligence. Some would go on to make a career out of this and create custom robots, which they can have for personal use and to sell to potential clients by commission. By the 2010's, hologram projectors had been invented, starting with portable holographic computers, were also beginning to often be used as a substitute for the rather expensive mechanical bodies that custom programmers prefer to avoid. Health facilities currently use hologram robots to aid in mental health and psychological therapy, while some people have made custom hologram robots to act as assistants or entertainment, such as is the case with various Japanese hologram popstars. In the most recent year, there has finally been word of a new advancement of robots. While there had been fake stories before, there are currently some reports of a truly sentient robot living somewhere in the United States, undetected by government on the state or federal level. Trivia *The specific roles for robots in this universe compared to other fiction was done as a result of employment complications. If robots could have any job, then humans would have no way to make their own money, so I figured that it would be easier to avoid this problem if all public robots were assigned to a small and specific range of jobs. *The decision to make the majority non-sentient comes from the implication of a Singularity or Robot Apocalypse, as it would make sense real world governments would fear this and choose to not advance technology so far as to where it can overthrow the human race. *Robots almost always have terrible singing voices, as most are not programmed with the assets to sing, only speak. At best a robot will sing in a similar sound to a Vocaloid, and at worst, they sound like the text-to-speech feature of Moonbase Alpha *Although there are a surprising amount of similarities between humans and robots, sexual intercourse is the one thing robots cannot understand nor do they have an equivalent to. They also are unable to feel anything from sex. *In the future of the current OMAM story, the term "robots" may be considered offensive by some, as the word derives from the czech word, "robota", that when translated to English, means "slave" or forced labor. Activists would consider "Android" a more politically correct term as it roughly translates to "man form", placing robots on more equal footing with humans. *There are more human/robot romantic relationships than there are robot/robot relationships. But they are both majorly less than human/human relationships. *When Robot culture begins to develop, there will be a movement to purposely look less like humans. Doll and Caretaker models remove their silicon skin covers (or change to a totally different body model), and many choose to add various parts such as arms or legs to themselves. A famous example of this is a future robot pop star and robot rights icon named Siren, who prior to the Prometheus event was a hologram that was very human-like and anime styled. After the event, she gained a physical body with a bronze steel covering, and four arms, completely contrasting her intended design. *Clothes are considered a status symbol among robots. Clothes are not necessary as robots do not get cold easily, and they have no place on their body that is necessary to cover, so clothes are entirely aesthetic. But out of spite for human fashion, robot clothes tend to leave the parts that humans would normally cover, uncovered. The odd designs tend to give off an oddly fantasy-like feeling with the outfits. Category:Species/Races Category:OMAM characters